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10.08.2012

Mermaid duathlon race recap

This weekend was a whirlwind, and I can't say this week will be easier.

Saturday was my first ever duathlon, the Mermaid series triathlon and duathlon in Capitola. It was an all women's event, and the duathlon had about 188 of them competing. I left my house around 5:45am, too early in my opinion, and made it to Capitola while it was still dark so I could score some primo parking {rare in that town} and set up my transition area. This was another race I did on my own, so I was kinda lonely just waiting around by myself for my wave start. I ended up walking down to the expo/finishers chute, then went to the wharf and watched the Olympic distance tri swim start. I did not envy their 1600 meter swim in the open ocean...where a great white shark was spotted just months ago. *shudder*

My wave started right on time, and since I had made it to the front of the group, I didn't have to fight through anyone. The course had an uphill start, but I had so much adrenaline and energy that I powered through it. I finished the 1.5 mile run in 13:37, with the first mile finished in 8:13. Um, for me, that's incredibly speedy! Unfortunately there was a giant hill to the transition area, which totally winded me.

I changed shoes and gear and hopped on my bike for the 12 mile ride, which I finished in 48:51. I was dying on the crazy hills, but made up for my sucking on the descent. Coming back in for T2 I was feeling pretty toasted, so it was no surprise that when I started the second run, I was dragging majorly. Here's my secret...I didn't train any bricks leading up to this race. I actually barely rode my bike because I wanted to focus on my running for the half next week. I had to run the same course as run #1, so there was that monster hill that kicked my butt...again. I managed to run the whole 2 miles, with a tiny walk break for some water and to help my majorly cramping calves. I finished that suck fest in 19:22, right in my normal pace of 9:34/mile.

My finishing time was 1:23:28. I was 5th out of 28 in my age group, and 37th out of 188 overall. I'm pretty stoked with my results for this being my first duathlon, not having trained specifically for it, and for feeling the pain during the race. Want to see a photo from the end of the race? I totally wasn't prepared, so my eyes are a little "dead" lol

Hopefully I will get some good race photos later on. I didn't see too many course photographers, so I can't imagine how terrible and in pain I will look from the ones who caught me unaware!!